Have recently been treating a patient who suffered with whiplash a number of years ago when she was involved in a car accident. It took time for the whiplash symptoms to heal but finally she recovered from the pain that it caused her and apart from minor neck ache it didn’t bothered her to much.
She has since become aware of a pattern of extreme neck pain and stiffness, which seems to coincide with bouts of stress she encounters at work. The pain pattern is common to whiplash injury. On two occasions, since the car accident she seems to have undergone what she felt was either a stroke or a heart attack. Each time she was rushed to hospital, but they could find nothing wrong with her. The pain in her neck was becoming really severe and she was being told to take pain killers, yet no other treatment was being offered.
When we began working together using myofascial Release techniques, I mostly stuck to the site of the pain, which brought some relief, but the problem kept re-occurring. We then began using a combination of craniosacral therapy, visceral manipulation and myofascial release, with lots of stretching techniques to open out and lengthen the fibers of the muscles in the neck. During whiplash muscular fibers in the neck become overstretched. She began to notice referred pain patterns which travelled down her back and along her right hip, down to her knee. She does feel she has arthritis and complains of bone grinding against bone in her right knee. During treatment there is tconsiderable tightness in her legs, therefore over time the pain in her neck has improved slowly, but pain and stiffness is being felt in other parts of her body. As yet we have stuck to working on the physical pain she feels, although one session of somatoemotional release, did throw emotional issues connected to insecurity and lack of certainty into the picture.
The pattern of pain coincides with each episode of stress she seems to encounter, but the symptoms can be frightening for her, making her worry that something else may be behind the pain. Obviously the worry is compounding the stress. One of the issue which effects the impact of stress is the mental awareness of the sufferer at the time of the actual accident. If they see the accident coming and have no time to react then this information of lack of control can remain locked in the psyche, which makes up part of the symptomology of whiplash.
Its been some 10 treatments and we seem to finally be getting somewhere. She has had her first week without the intense stiffness and lack of movement. For articles and further information connected to whiplash and information discussed in this bolg go to www.touchofhaling.co.uk
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